1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of human self-improvement, specifically to an attention-focusing device and related methods of use to promote learning, mental reorganization, goal attainment, perceptual control, and behavioral modification.
2. Prior Art
Problematic human conditions such as obesity, addictions, stress-induced anger and anxiety, obsessive compulsions, phobias, and other inappropriate thoughts and urges are a source of great misery and ill health. Some corrective therapies for self-improvement incorporate attention-focusing devices that produce sensible repetitive timing signals to assist individuals in attaining new goals or learning new skills. A simple example is the use of a prompting device in a regimen to reduce nicotine addiction by providing prompting signals to extend the time interval between smoking cigarettes.
While specific repetitive signaling regimens vary according to the objective sought and the recommended technique, the process of supplying an individual with a sensible signal, such as a sound, is common to all approaches that are based, in part, on signaling. Human body weight control is a common self-improvement endeavor, but other self-help concerns are applicable.
The prior art reveals an extensive history of psychologically based methods and devices to control human food consumption and body weight. Some early behavioral modification programs proposed that eating slowly would prevent overeating. The supposition was that a person eating rapidly in an unrestrained fashion would tend to consume food in excess of metabolic needs before becoming aware of the body""s satiety signals.
Some strategies advocated extending the interval between bites to slow food consumption and allow more time for post-ingestive satiety to develop. Audiotapes with timing cues and repetitive signaling timers were used by some programs to assist a user in increasing the interval between bites of food. Listening to audiotapes with bite timing cues in a social dining environment is unacceptably obtrusive.
Several behavioral modification signaling devices for use in xe2x80x9cbite-pacingxe2x80x9d programs are of record. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,089 to Dubus et al. (1995) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,673 to DiGirolamo et al. (1980) disclose special eating utensils with timing circuits in the handles that generate aural or visual signals for bite-pacing. The utensil-based devices are flagrantly conspicuous to all when moved about in hand with red and green lights flashing or buzzers sounding. Transporting a specialized eating utensil such as a bite-pacing fork in a pocket could be uncomfortable due to its shape, and unhygienic when soiled with food. These utensil-based devices also specify red-colored signaling lights that can be irritating.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,850 to Hanapole (1996) shows a bite-pacing wristwatch with a motion-sensing triggering element that initiates a vibrating or electric shock signal for cueing bites. The wristwatch shocker is visually inconspicuous as described, but its external power source and connecting wire are obvious to fellow diners unless hidden within a dinner jacket. A separate battery pack and a connecting wire threaded through a coat sleeve are impractical and inconvenient. Moreover, the electrical shock is a coercive signal form.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,682 to Kerr et al. (1990) discloses a xe2x80x9cmeal minderxe2x80x9d device that requires the user to place an eating utensil atop a photocell sensor appliance between bites. An alarm sounds if the user removes the utensil from the photocell before the designated time interval has expired. The photocell device is blatantly apparent in use because of its substantial size and its awkward mode of operation and audible alarm. The meal minder device also lacks convenient portability due to its size and shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,301 to Lutz (1999) describes a behavioral modification device that can be user programmed to support a bite-pacing program. The Lutz behavioral modification device specifies a capability for discreet tactile signaling similar to a belt-located vibrating paging device, but such a signal delivery strategy is inappropriate for those women who would find it unfashionable or impossible to use with dresses lacking belts. The device includes a technically elaborate interface incorporating over ten adjustment switches. This complexity implies a steep learning curve that may deter technophobic users, and operating it could create an embarrassing disruption of the dining experience for many users. Some users find vibrating buzzing signals annoying.
The above appliances have serious human factor and operational deficiencies that inhibit their use and potential success as signaling devices for self-improvement programs. These limitations include the following:
Conspicuousness. Humans can be very sensitive about their body image, particularly when overweight. Actions that draw the attention of others to their personal appearance or to their self-improvement efforts can be a source of extreme embarrassment and humiliation. A signaling device that attracts undue attention or disrupts a social environment will be eschewed by users and deemed ineffective. Structural aspects contributing to conspicuousness of a device include size, shape, signal characteristics, location of use, ease of activation, and need for user involvement during operation. The above devices all have physical structures and operational methods that are obtrusive in use.
User-friendliness. A device that is perceived to be complex, aesthetically unattractive, inconvenient, or unpleasant to use will also be rejected. For example, devices that are awkward or uncomfortable to transport in pocket, purse, or hand will not be carried and available for use at all times. Those that employ coercive signal forms such as red lights (STOP!), irritating alarms, or electrical shocks risk creation of a negative user reaction. Complex signaling mechanisms or even those that appear complicated will deter those who are not technically oriented. The devices discussed above fail to meet reasonable standards of user-friendliness, and are aesthetically unappealing.
Operational Deficiencies. The above signaling devices suffer several operational inadequacies that limit their utility. For example, some multiple-regimen, self-improvement programs require a plurality of sensibly-distinct timing signal sets with different intervals. All of the cited mechanisms are single-purpose timing signaling devices (e.g., for bite-pacing), and do not support multiple-regimen programs.
Also, many self-improvement programs require predetermined signal timing intervals. Devices that describe circuitry with time-interval parameters that can be modified by a user pose a serious problem for implementing such regimens. User programmability is an undesirable feature that can circumvent program objectives. For example, Lutz allows user-adjustment of the signaling time interval, which is inappropriate for self-improvement regimens with predetermined intervals.
Attention-focusing devices are distinguished from other prior-art timers. One-shot timers, such as cooking timers and countdown stopwatches are well known, but they are not adapted for repetitive prompting. One-shot timers require human intervention for activation of each timing interval. Using such a device for repetitive prompting is inconvenient, distracting, embarrassing, wand indiscreet. Moreover, these devices as a class rely on strident audible alarms to indicate conclusion of a timing interval. Further, these timers include analog or digital display means and housing forms that publicize their intended use.
Pacing devices for athletes are also known. However, their location of use (wrist, lanyard, or handheld watches) and their audible alarms make them inappropriate for social settings. The intended uses of these pacers in athletic activities require user-programmability of pacing intervals. As discussed above, this feature is inappropriate for self-improvement programs based on predetermined timing intervals.
Ongoing scientific research has challenged the underlying assumptions and efficacy of some prior-art behavioral modification therapies such as bite-pacing. For example, ingestive behavior scientists have disproved the old assertion that a slowed pace of eating, per se, reduces food consumption (Spiegel, T. A.; Kaplan, J. M.; Tomassini, A.; Stellar, E.; Appetite, Vol. 21(2), pages 131-145 (October 1993)). In controlled studies, bite-pacing regimens actually increased food intake over the course of a meal (Yeomans, M. R.; Gray, R. W.; True, S.; Appetite, Vol. 29(1), pages 61-76 (August 1997)).
Other self-improvement weight control methods are known, e.g., mindful eating and satiety assessment regimens have been used during mealtime periods, and a variety of intervention techniques have been proposed to control inappropriate eating between meals (the latter including refocusing, visualization, and meditation). These strategies are consistent with a new body of scientific knowledge called Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) that is radically different from behavioral modification theories, such as operant conditioning and stimulus control.
In summary, various single-purpose signaling devices have been disclosed to support the now-discredited behavioral modification method of bite pacing. The cited prompting devices have many limitations in the areas of conspicuousness, user-friendliness, and other operational deficiencies that make them undesirable or ineffective for use in self-improvement programs. The prior art also discloses other weight control methods such as mindful eating, satiety assessment, and intervention techniques to curtail unwanted eating between meals.
3. Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of this invention are to provide:
(a) a new and improved attention-focusing device and method, especially one that overcomes the drawbacks of prior-art devices and methods;
(b) an attention-focusing device for repetitive signaling of a plurality of self-improvement regimens in humans;
(c) an attention-focusing device that is inconspicuous in use by virtue of its small size, its shielding of the visual signal from non-users, its provision of a tactile signaling mode, its simplicity of user activation, and an unobtrusive appearance which bears no resemblance to a conventional timing device;
(d) an attention-focusing device that is conveniently and comfortably portable, easily accessible at any time, and usable in any social setting;
(e) an attention-focusing device that can be selectively used in either visual, aural or tactile signaling modes based on user preference and social setting;
(f) an attention-focusing device that is perceived by its user to be non-coercive by virtue of its use of gentle and pleasant signal forms; and
(g) an attention-focusing device ergonomically shaped for use as a handheld kinesthetic contact surface in visualization exercises.
Other objects and advantages are to provide:
(a) an attention-focusing device with at least one flat surface adapted for standing on a horizontal surface;
(b) a circuit that is capable of providing a plurality of sets of predetermined, sensibly-distinct, repetitive prompting signals that may be run individually or concurrently for multiple-task, self improvement regimens;
(c) an attention-focusing device with circuitry that prevents accidental activation and causes automatic shut down to preserve battery life; and
(d) an exemplary method of use for an attention-focusing device that supports a multiple task weight control program including mindful eating, satiety assessment, and intervention regimens.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from the ensuing description and drawings.
According to the invention we provide a small, inconspicuous attention-focusing device that generates sets of selectable repetitive signals for implementing psychological therapies or other programs for self-improvement. The preferred embodiment provides many user-friendly structural features. These include a small housing unit sized to be comfortably contained within a closed hand, inconspicuously used on a flat surface, and conveniently transported in pocket or purse; a visual sender embedded within the housing unit to shield the signal from direct observation by non-users; and an incurvate surface formed in the housing unit to further shield the visual sender and provide a structural surface for kinesthetic contact in intervention exercises.
The device employs a control circuit that can be flexibly programmed to produce sets of sensibly distinct timing signals of predetermined intervals that may be run individually or concurrently to implement the timing specifications of multiple-regimen programs. The circuitry of a preferred embodiment provides a mechanism for selectable visual, aural, or tactile signaling; a single normally open switch for selecting operational mode, signal type, and off state; and xe2x80x9csmart devicexe2x80x9d features that prevent accidental activation and cause automatic shut down to conserve battery life.
The device further includes an exemplary method of use that implements several related self-improvement regimens (mindful eating, satiety assessment, and intervention exercises) for controlling human body weight.
Figures
FIG. 1A is a perspective overall view of the preferred embodiment of an attention-focusing device according to the invention in its vertical operating position.
FIG. 1B is a perspective overall view of the preferred embodiment of the device in a horizontal position.
FIG. 2 is a plan drawing of the viewing angles of the preferred embodiment of the device on a dining table surface.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the circuitry of the preferred embodiment of the device.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart diagram of the logic in the preferred embodiment of the device.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the device held as a kinesthetic contact object in a user""s hand.